Reflecting an image

imago Dei. In His image.




At creation God’s purpose for me is to worship Him and obey Him and, by these means, bring glory to His name. As was recently discussed in my Old Testament class, the nuance of Genesis 1:26-27 is not that God created us to look like Himself, but rather to be His image on Earth — in other words, to reflect characteristics of God to all of creation. This, in turn, will magnify His glory, if done properly. The great tragedy is that at the Fall of mankind, the image of God in man was fractured, shattered like a mirror, no longer able to accurately reflect the image of a Holy God.



I am a shattered mirror. And like a shattered mirror, my splintered, broken reflection often draws more attention to itself than it does the image of the Sovereign Creator. But. The Gospel restores my cracked and fractured image, allowing me to reflect more acceptably the image of my Redeemer.



I can’t take credit for the beauty of this mirror analogy. (Dr. Robinson’s knack for the use of imagery is present in a number of my posts.) So for the second time this semester, I’m about to walk through The Story Training Guide, first in class and again in the upcoming weeks with the young professionals class at my local church. If The Story isn’t familiar to you, I recommend you take a minute now to stop and introduce yourself to it by clicking the website here: TheStoryTraining.com. You won’t regret it.



Anyway, my self-assigned task for at least a couple of days during the next few weeks, as I re-examine the narrative of the Gospel with Dr. Reid and other young pros, is to find a small, portable mirror somewhere in my seminary apartment and take it around with me, not just in my bag or purse, but on my person. My little mirror is going to serve as just one reminder on those days of 1) my role in accurately reflecting Christ to the world 2) how fragile my witness can be if I am not mindful of it and 3) that, by God’s love and sacrifice, I am a restored image of a Holy Creator.



This idea has the potential to be a creative reminder… or possibly a painful experience. I’ll let you know how it works out for me, and whether or not I end up with a shattered mirror in my back pocket.